Patricia Mukhim
The temperature over the city is rising, both metaphorically and otherwise. The Rangbah Shnong have called a public meeting at Polo Grounds on May 30 to discuss their own positions vis-a-vis the High Court order divesting them of the right to issue certificates that they do not object to a resident applying for a passport, for electricity connection for opening a bank account and perhaps even for applying for a voter’s ID card. This was a job that the State Government had once outsourced to the Rangbah Shnong. This predicament arose because the powers and function of the RS were not clearly enunciated by law or administrative order. Some RS have used over-reaching powers to ostracise villagers who complain against them or who are accused of practising black magic (men ai ksuid) or being involved in snake worship (nongri thlen). For a long time the RS used arbitrary powers because no one every challenged them. Now even villagers are getting wiser and understand that their individual and private rights override that of an archaic customary practice that cannot distinguish between superstition real life events. Hence they are challenging these anachronistic village diktats which are at best obscurantist.
For over 40 odd years the people of Meghalaya have relied on pressure groups with various acronyms to resolve their contentious issues by the use of short-cut methods. Mostly that short-cut method involved beating up non-tribals who are seen as the bane of our existence. There has been no attempt whatsoever to analyse the reasons for our abysmal performance as a State and why we are stuck in a groove. As a people ours has been a policy of opposing every Government move without the responsibility of offering alternatives. What the TUR as an informed organisation is doing vis-a-vis the Village Administration Bill, 2014 with a clause by clause critique and suggestions on strengthening the Bill to make it inclusive and gender equitable is, to my mind, the legitimate way to engage with a tricky situation such the one which presents itself at the moment.
Things are murky at the moment. There is the former CEM, KHADC who is hell bent on pressurising the Government on passing the VAB which is deficient in modern tenets of governance and resists the inclusion of women in its ambit. Also it is silent on what happens to non-tribals living under a Dorbar Shnong and why they should be excluded from participating in a governance system that also affects them and their democratic rights. The Bill has not been thrashed out by all stakeholders so for the former CEM to insist on the Government passing the Bill it outright undemocratic and a blackmailing tactic which is aimed at creating a political constituency for the future. Politicians have damaged this state more than they will admit. Right from 1972 when the State was created we did not have a single statesman who could have mapped out a trajectory for Meghalaya to follow taking into account its natural and human resources. Every government since then has been reactive and pushed into decision making. The manner in which the railway project up to Byrnihat was dropped just because of pressure from the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and without as much as an informed public debate tells us just how quick politicians have been to placate the students’ body. Over the years successive Governments in power in Meghalaya have capitulated to different pressure groups which have now only multiplied because being a PG is remunerative and profitable. And we all know how and why and who actually supports them.
In Meghalaya one has noticed also that a pressure group can be a double-edged sword. They could be operating as pressure groups in the day time and militant outfits in the cover of darkness. One was therefore not surprised that the HNLC called a bandh to protest the non-passing of the VAB 2014 or to prevent the Government from passing an Ordinance on the issue. Since the behaviour of most pressure groups is under watch the next best thing for them to do is outsource the calling of bandhs etc to a phantom group that uses a fake email ID to send emails to media houses. And I stand guilty of being one of those journalists who publishes such bandh calls in big fonts on the front page of the newspaper I work for. Much debate has taken place among journalists here about what to do with such emails from militant outfits but no satisfactory answer has emerged. I am therefore thankful that we are now ordered by the High Court not to publish such humbug from a group of 20 or less no-do-gooders who are looking for an opportunity to come over-ground and are looking for a rehabilitation package.
I also find it difficult to understand why and how tradition is tied to governance. Local governance is an imperative. But we need local governance bodies that operate under modern democratic norms and which are accessible to people. Why is tradition being brought in like the Holy Cow here? And if people are raving about the merits of tradition then may I ask if tradition demanded that the Rangbah Shnong should be a certificate issuing agency? Meghalaya perhaps has the most contentious and arbitrary village governance laws. Here a Khasi staying in Nongthymmai and shifting residence to Mawlai would have to pay an amount for something called “Rung Shnong” or entry into that Shnong. Some Dorbar Shnong do not allow ‘new’ residents whose faces they are not familiar with, to be involved in the Dorbar affairs. You would have to have lived under a particular Dorbar Shnong for a sufficiently long time to be made to feel part of that locality. However, not all Dorbar Shnong follow this discriminatory practice. It depends on each Dorbar and how enlightened its members are; how inclusive and perceptive they are to the issues of civic governance, which is what the Dorbar Shnong should be about.
In the Dorbar Shnong we have no rituals to perform unlike the Mylliem or the Khyrim syiemships. The Dorbar Shnong is purely about managing civic governance and ensuring public harmony. That’s all! Recently the Laitumkhrah Dorbar had clarified that they do not implement government projects or MLA schemes. In the rural areas we have to blame the State Government for using the Dorbar Shnong to implement the MGNREGS without having trained and capacitated the office bearers of the Dorbar Shnong in maintenance of accounts and book-keeping practices. When the Rangbah Shnong and his assistants started acting like feudal lords issuing job cards to their undeserving family members and when the villagers started complaining, then the State Government took action and First Information Reports (FIRs) were filed against them for misappropriating public funds. If anyone should be hauled up then the State Govt should be held accountable for taking short-cuts to meet targets. Actually the Village Employment Council should have been headed by anyone elected by the villagers themselves and one in whom they have confidence. Why should the Rangbah Shnong be the one and only choice? Is that not pandering to a group that already has the propensity to misuse power in any number of cases? There are exceptions, but they are rare!
Now what is surprising is Sonia Gandhi jumping into this melee and warning her party-men not to tinker with tradition. I wish the lady understood the underpinnings of her admonishments before making such absurd comments. Our tradition rests on the fact that we follow certain practices which over a period of time become our culture. Over time that culture becomes a tradition. But cultures change with the times while tradition resists that change. Where social norms are concerned, privileged groups have mostly tried to stick to traditions which favour them, whilst disadvantaged groups battle for change. The advent of democracy and the Indian constitution promoted modernisation and this is not wholly palatable to certain privileged groups. For example, the very notion that all humans are equal is anathema to those who still believe in a feudal society. And there is little to disprove that the Khasi society is not feudal. Why else would only one clan be the ruling clan? Then there is also the question of gender. Feudal groups have a tendency of not accepting females as equals. Matriliny has only compounded that problem because it obfuscates the fact that women are actually not empowered in this society. Creating legal codes to satisfy traditionalist would lead to constitutional difficulties about the transgression of individual rights. How do we know that the VAB n its present form will not be challenged in a court of law?
The habit of outsourcing our problems to sundry groups shows that society is lazy about taking up cudgels for itself. That we are all complying with the diktat of a militant outfit is even more preposterous. But for most paid employees it is simply a matter of not wanting to exert themselves. Period! The alibi about not having enough security and transportation is bunkum. It is good that the Courts are showing the light in a situation where there is darkness all around.